Sentience

"Heads up." Rei's voice sounded out in his ear. "He's almost on you. You've got less than a minute."

Oni didn't respond. Instead just dropping the unconscious body of the criminal he'd been holding, sending them collapsing to the ground. He shot a smile at the only other person that was still standing as his claws flashed back into place. One that promised nothing but pain. He watched them start to back away in response.

"What's the matter?" He asked, cocking his head. "You don't want to play? But you all were so very confident when I got here. What happened?"

He took a single step forwards, relishing the sheer panic that flashed across the other's face at the movement. "Did you lose your nerve?"

Their eyes darted around, looking at their fallen comrades. Probably hoping that one of them would get up to help him. When none of them did, Oni watched the fear in their eyes skyrocket. He could practically taste it in the air. Oh what fun this night had turned out to be.

He'd chosen this location at random, deciding that he'd raise hell for this particular insignificant gang tonight. Once he'd torn through a wall to get in, and had gotten his fill of the arrogance they displayed simply because they had the advantage of numbers, he jumped in and threw the room into chaos. Their panic had been delicious, and the screams of the one he'd just dropped were practically still echoing through the building from where he took their quirk.

He was about to step closer, ready to terrify the unfortunate piece of garbage a bit more and enjoy their reaction, when he heard something behind him, in the direction of the hole he'd entered through.

'Ah. There he is.'

The hair on the back of his neck stood straight, and he could almost feel the displacement of the air as something rushed towards him.

Throwing himself to the side, he looked over at the mass of cloth that occupied the space he'd just been standing in. Following it back to its origin revealed a very irate insomniac hero.

Alighting back on his feet, Oni threw a smile at the man. One that was considerably more friendly than the one that had just been decorating his features a few moments ago.

"Hello again, Eraserhead!" He called out in greeting. "Fancy seeing you so soon after our last meeting. More than once in a night is pretty rare, isn't it?"

Oni could just about feel the man's irritation as he glared at him from under those goggles.

"What the fuck, Oni?" Eraserhead asked as his capture weapon returned to its place around his neck, and he stepped into the building. He looked seven different kinds of exhausted, which was exactly the goal Oni had been going for. "The hell has gotten into you tonight?"

"Whatever could you possibly mean?" He responded, feigning innocence. "I've just been doing what I normally do. Patrolling, apprehending criminals, and just generally being a nightmare for everyone around me."

"This is the fourth time tonight, Problem Child. You even opened with that exact same line about seeing me again. I thought you normally went weeks between takedowns like this."

He sighed. "And why do you have to call me every single time? Don't you usually like screwing with Tsukauchi?"

"I-" Oni started to reply, only to be interrupted by a door slamming off to the side. A glance over at where the criminal had been standing revealed empty space.

Now it was Oni's turn to sigh.

"Now look at what you've done." He huffed, gesturing over at the door. "I wasn't done playing with that yet! Now I'm going to have to chase them down across half the city. Because I'm pretty sure that they have a speed quirk that could give Ingenium a run for his money."

"Serves you right." Eraserhead responded. And wow, Oni wasn't aware that the hero could be that sort of petty. "Answer the question, Oni. What the fuck?��

Oni's smile was downright mischievous as he stared the hero down. This was what he got for being such a dramatic shit during the quirk apprehension test earlier in the day. As Izuku, a student, he couldn't do anything about it except prove Eraserhead wrong. But as Oni? As Oni, he controlled the situation. He could do just about whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted, and he could force Eraserhead to deal with it.

The hero made it so easy to do it, too. Every time Oni called, or sent a location, Eraser wouldn't hesitate to make a beeline for wherever it was, ready to kick down the door and go to town. Even after the second and third incidents tonight, the man still showed up as he always did. It was almost like he cared. That was part of the reason he was Oni's favorite hero.

And it wasn't like Oni was completely evil. He'd already cleared out all of the locations before Eraserhead had arrived. He only wanted to make the man run back and forth across the city to irritate him, not put him in any unnecessary risk.

"Alright, alright. You got me." He said, holding his hands up. "I woke up today with just, this undeniable urge to make your night miserable and thought, 'what better way to do that than to start messes on opposite sides of the city and call you to come clean them up?'"

He jumped out of the way as the hero's capture weapon lashed out at him again, laughing as he landed a few feet away. "Come on, Eraser. I thought you liked playing with me."

"Give it a rest, Oni." The hero growled. "Cut the shit and go home. I've got enough problem children to deal with already without you wasting my nights."

He made a show of considering it. "Oh. alright. I suppose I can call it a night."

"Tell you what." He continued. "I'll go retrieve the garbage, that you let go by the way, and then that'll be it for today. Sound good?"

The hero grumbled as he turned to start inspecting one of the fallen criminals.

"Nothing will ever be good with you, Oni. Not unless you plan to stop being a vigilante altogether and turn yourself in. But I doubt that you'll do that any time soon."

"A very astute observation. Why would I stop my work if it's the only time I get to chat with you?"

Eraser just stood to move on to the next criminal, decidedly ignoring him.

Oni shrugged. "Alright then. See you around Eraser! Enjoy your night. Or at least, what's left of it."

With that, he turned to his improvised entrance, laughing lightly at the hero's frustration. As he reached the hole in the wall, he heard Eraserhead mutter to himself 'Fucking problem children.' Then, even softer, 'God I need a fucking drink."

Once he was clear of the building, he launched himself into the sky. A moment later, he came to rest on the rooftop of the building he'd just exited.

"Phantom?" He prompted, knowing that he didn't have to say anything else.

"Directly east of you." She reported. "You were right, he definitely has some sort of speed quirk. He only got a few minute's head start on you and he's already covered a little over two miles. You'd better hurry if you want to get him before he leaves Musutafu."

Humming to himself, he turned in place, working out which way was east. Once he had it figured out, he walked over to the edge of the roof. He dropped into a crouch, resting his hands on the surface of building.

A smile split his features as he started pulling quirks from the bundle in his chest. As unfortunate as it was that they managed to slip away, he quite liked chases like this; classic games of cat and mouse. It had been so long since he'd had an opportunity to enjoy one. He wondered just how long they'd be able to hold out before he got his hands on them.

His smile widened, fueled by anticipation and his quickly rising excitement. Such a powerful quirk. To cover that sort of distance in such little time, even with as boosted with adrenaline as it no doubt was. He was ever so curious as to how it worked.

He couldn't wait to try it out for himself.

Soon enough, he had all the quirks he needed pulled out and ready, and the world had been all but drowned out by his heart thundering away in his chest.

"Let's begin, then."

The roof he was standing on cratered as he took off, launching through the air, his wings tucked firmly against his back. He soared through the air, clearing the adjacent building, and coming down on the one after.

The moment his feet touched down on the roof, was when the real fun started.

In the span of less than a second, his legs – boosted by probably too many quirks – were bent and tensed beneath him. He tilted forwards ever so slightly, before kicking off.

Cracks spiderwebbed from where he'd been standing as he took off, this time straight across the surface of the roof instead of into the air.

The world blurred around him as he moved, clearing buildings in single strides. The only time he broke his rhythm were when he came across a building that was taller than the others, causing him to either run around, jump over it, or on one occasion, cling to the side of it as he ran. He used one of his newer quirks 'Gecko' – the same one he'd used when he fought the zero-pointer in the entrance exams – to run across the vertical surface.

Most of the sounds of the city around him were lost to the wind that whistled in his ears. But it didn't do anything to drown out Rei's voice.

"Bear left a bit." She instructed, just over a minute into the chase. "You're closing in."

He did as she said, directing himself off to the left. A few seconds later, he launched himself into the air again. Pulling on 'Spectrum' and switching to thermal, he scanned the rooftops for his prey. His smile widened as he spotted the bright blob moving away from him in a blur. He wasn't sure where they thought they were heading, but they were doing so in a hurry. Touching down once more, he picked up the pace. They were already on the edge of what could be considered his 'territory' and he wanted to wrap it up before they ventured too far out of it.

His eyes zeroed in on the criminal, still highlighted in bright colors in the eyes of 'Spectrum' as he drew closer. They didn't notice him as he closed the distance between them, not even when they were separated by only a few feet. He waited until he was even with them, before turning to direct his smile in their direction.

"Wow." He drawled with mock admiration. "You're fast."

He savored the choked sound that they made. Smile remaining in place as he watched them stumble and come so very close to falling and crashing at what must've been upwards of sixty miles-per-hour. Unfortunately, he was denied that entertainment as they recovered and, surprisingly, managed to pick up the pace as they panicked and fought to get away from him.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" He called out at them as they pulled away.

"Good." He continued, more to himself. "I like a challenge. I like it when you think you can win. It makes it all the more satisfying when you fail."

Oni picked up the pace as well, moving to close the distance. There were so many things he could do to end the chase right then and there, even as simple as pulling on a few of his speed quirks that were as-of-yet untouched, but he wasn't going to. He wanted to savor this.

When they realized that they couldn't get rid of him with sheer speed, the criminal suddenly veered off to the side, dropping off the side of the building to the alleyway below, hoping instead to throw him off the trail that way. They turned and cut around corners, circling around and occasionally even taking the chase out onto the main road, much to the surprise of the few people that were out and about at the late hour.

This carried on for a few minutes, Oni lunging forwards every once in a while to claw or grab at them, just to remind them of his presence.

Eventually, the chase led them back onto the rooftops. Right about the time that Oni found himself growing tired of it.

He was about to make one final lunge, this time to end it all. They were jumping over an alleyway, a mere fraction of a second from when he would make his move, when a noise broke him from his borderline tunnel vision.

A scream, originating from the alley below.

A scream that sounded decidedly young.

Oni twisted in midair, his scaled hand plunging into the roof beneath him. It dug a trench into the building as he pulled to a stop. In one fluid motion, he was on his feet and pulling on 'Metallum.' The metal spreading across his body in an instant. He reached out and grabbed at the criminal he'd been chasing, despite them already being on the next roof. Ignoring the strain in his arm, he watched as they halted mid-stride and came flying back at him.

He caught them and, in the same motion, was slamming them into the roof. Pulling 'Metalum' and his claws back into his chest, he grabbed onto their quirk, pulling it into himself and clamping his hand over their mouth when they tried to scream.

Not paying much heed to them after that, he went to the edge of the roof that overlooked the alleyway.

Looking down below, he was met with the sight of four men standing in the mouth of the alleyway, laughing and joking with each other as they all but sauntered into it. Looking towards the other end, he noticed that it was a dead end, and the thermal vision that still sat in his eyes picked out the small figure huddled as far into the corner as they could go.

"Go on then!" One of the called out, smile obvious in their voice. "She's gone and trapped herself. You're up."

Dispelling his changed vision with a blink, he dropped off of the roof, landing directly in their path. He wasn't quite sure what the situation was, but he wasn't about to let it continue.

He watched their expressions go from smug and pleased, to confused, then right back to smug again when they noticed him. Taking advantage of the stare down, he strained his eyes at them.

'Tail mutation, tracking quirk, touch-based sedation, and a blade quirk.' He counted off as he read through the information supplied by 'Appraisal.' His eyes narrowed at the implications of that sort of quirk combination.

They were obviously after the child that was hiding off behind him. If their quirks were anything else, he would assume that it was just some random criminal act that he was interrupting. But the fact that they had a tracker and a sedation quirk, and that there were four of them all together, made it obvious that there was something more.

'Some form of human trafficking.' He guessed. 'Quirk trafficking? Or just regular human trafficking?'

He wouldn't know until he either beat the answers out of them, or went back to find out what quirk the child had, which could potentially clear everything up depending on what it was.

Either way, he needed to deal with them.

Speaking of. They were apparently growing tired of the silent stare down, as one of them – tail quirk. The leader maybe? – stepped forwards.

"The fuck do you want?" They asked, rather aggressively. "You tryin' to get in our way or something?"

Oni cocked an eyebrow at their attitude, before sighing lightly. Right, he wasn't in his usual hunting grounds right now. They didn't know to be afraid of him, or how utterly screwed they were right now. Even that last group he'd taken care of, despite their arrogance, had still showed a certain amount of wariness towards him.

And the way they spoke. It was almost as if they were expecting everyone to recognize and actively avoid them. Maybe they were in some bigger gang.

His eyes flitted across the four men, scanning them.

Ah. There it was. Each of them had a tiny triangular tattoo under their right eyes. Identifying marks for some group or another.

Yep. Almost definitely in a gang. It irked him just a bit that he didn't know for sure. He knew about every single group and gang in his city, and knew how to identify them. Here, he was in the dark.

Deciding to push that thought away, he answered the question.

"Well, yes." He responded with a smile. "I thought that was obvious enough when I literally landed in your path."

He leveled a glare at them, laughing internally as he watched the other three take a step back in response. The leader wasn't deterred, either strong enough to push past the instinctual fear that the others were feeling, or too stupid to feel it in the first place.

"Hah?" They questioned oh-so intelligently. "You tryin' to start a fight with us?"

Stupid it was, then. God, it was almost painful to watch. Or listen to. He was so tempted to dial up his bloodlust until they were running away with their tail between their legs, literally. The only reason he didn't was because he didn't want to terrify the child behind him any more than they probably already were.

Oni was about to respond again, when he felt something on the edge of 'Proximity's range. A quick glance had a grin appearing on his face. Oh, now this was quite the interesting development.

He might not know the criminals in this area, but he knew this.

"Oh, no. Not at all." He replied. "I'm not here to fight you."

He pointed a finger up towards the roof. "But he is."

The criminals looked up at where he'd pointed, only to see a few wisps of darkness fading away into the night. Oni's attention was trained on the criminals' feet. Where the shadows were just a bit thicker than the darkness that surrounded them.

An instant later, a figure appeared, almost out of thin air, and kicked at the back of one of the assailants' knees.

He smiled at the fight that broke out. The criminals panicking and trying their best to defend themselves as the new arrival danced around them.

Knowing that the fight was as good as handled, he turned around, directing his attention towards the corner that he'd seen the child hiding in. There was a dumpster blocking his view, but he knew that they were still there.

Walking around the obstacle, he caught sight of them in the dim light provided by the streetlamps outside of the alley. It was a little girl. He could just make out a head of purple hair and what looked to be pajamas.

The sound of approaching footsteps had her pressing further into the corner, a scared whine escaping her throat. The sounds of fighting just a short distance away probably wasn't helping things.

He stopped in his tracks. Looking down at her, he considered how he should handle this. Obviously, he needed to tread lightly. He had no idea what her situation was or why she was out here to begin with. Best to handle it as delicately as possible.

Immediately, he was crouched down, hands moving to the back of his head to unclasp his mask.

Pulling a quirk from his chest, he felt his fingers tingle where they were touching the metal of his mask. An instant later, it started glowing, illuminating the area and chasing away the shadows.

"Hey there." He started softly, setting the mask off to the side and raising his hands in a placating manner. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. And those bad men are gone. They won't be doing anything to you ever again."

The girl's eyes stared out at him from where they were almost hidden with how tightly her knees were tucked to her chest. The fear was evident there.

He edged a little closer. "My name's Oni. Can you tell me y-"

His head snapped back as something impacted his face. There was an audible crack as whatever hit him broke his nose. Blood was running down his face immediately as he stayed where he was, still looking up towards the sky as he contemplated what the hell just happened.

'Telekinesis?' He wondered. 'No. That doesn't fit. Whatever hit me was solid and had definite warmth to it, like an actual body part. But I definitely didn't see her move. So, unless she's as fast as All Might…'

Looking back down at her, he blinked, changing his vision to thermal once more. He almost startled when he couldn't make her out. It wasn't that she didn't have any body heat, or that his quirk was malfunctioning. No, she was blocked out entirely by a figure standing in front of her.

Whatever it was, it was vaguely humanoid, though the arms and legs looked longer than normal. It seemed like it would be just a bit taller than she would be if she were standing.

'Another person?' He thought, mind racing. 'Doubtful. The altered body shape combined with invisibility doesn't make much sense. And 'Proximity' didn't even register them at all.'

His thoughts were cut off as he watched the mystery figure draw an arm back.

Eyes widening as the limb was thrown forwards, he caught it in his hand, surprised once more when he felt the sheer force behind it and the feeling of it in his hand. It felt like… fur?

"I'm not going to hurt you." He repeated, voice just as gentle, if a bit nasally with his nose being broken. "Either of you."

Her eyes widened at that, and she drew out her huddled position just a bit.

"You can see Kemono?" She questioned, voice shaky.

"Is that their name?" He asked, looking back up at the figure in question. Their head looked animalistic, not unlike a dog. As far as he could tell, their lips were drawn back in a silent snarl. They strained against him, trying to escape his grip. He released them, watching as they retreated closer to the girl.

"Are they your friend?"

She nodded at him, before looking up at the figure.

Wait. Looking?

She could see it too. That narrowed things down tremendously. Either she had some way to see invisible things too, like he could, or…

"Are they your quirk?"

Her gaze returned to him, and he could see the figure almost shuffle in place, as if it were ready to charge at him at a moment's notice. She nodded at him again, and his mind was sent racing.

'A sentient quirk!' He just about cheered mentally. Sentient quirks were among the rarest type. Before today, he'd only come across one in person, and another two with his analysis, and that was spanning several years. Now he'd met two in less than twenty-four hours. First with Tokoyami's 'Dark Shadow' and now this.

Oh, how he wished he could get lucky enough to come across a criminal with a sentient quirk. He wanted to study one hands-on.

And on the other hand. If she had a sentient quirk, then that made it all the more likely that this was a quirk trafficking incident.

Ignoring his own racing thoughts, he edged a bit closer.

"That's a very cool quirk you have." He said. "Kemono seems like he's a very good friend if he's willing to protect you like that."

"Now. Do you think you could tell me your name?" He questioned.

"I-Iona." She responded, drawing out her huddled position just a little bit more. "Iona Katayama."

"Got it." He heard Rei's voice in his ear. "I'll start looking into her."

"Iona." He repeated, smiling at her. "That's a very pretty name you've got."

He shuffled a little closer. He was just about within arm's reach. "Are you hurt anywhere, Iona?"

There weren't any visible injuries, but that wasn't saying much with how huddled up she was.

She shook her head, causing Oni to let out a tiny sigh in relief. That was good; this situation didn't need anything else complicating it.

"Now, can you tell me what the two of you are doing out here all by yourselves?"

Just like that, all the progress he'd made in getting her to calm down went out the window. Tears were trailing down her face almost immediately and she curled back up, burying her face against her knees and shaking with tiny sobs.

"Hey, hey, shh." He shushed, trying to get her to calm down. When she didn't respond, he got a little bit closer. He kept an eye on Kemono as he did. Just in case the quirk decided to attack him again.

The next few minutes were spent trying to get her to settle back down, to little success. She all but refused to draw back out of where she'd curled back up, lost as she was to whatever was tormenting her.

Watching her for a moment, it didn't look like he was going to be able to calm her down. Oni sighed lightly. He needed to get her somewhere safe, but in order to do that, he needed to know whether that safe place was her home, or if he was going to be taking her to a police station. And he needed her calm so he could determine that

As he considered his options, he reached a conclusion that he really didn't like. Part of him wished that Rei were here; comforting people was not his strong suit. She would have no issue handling this. But she wasn't, so his options were limited.

Deciding what he should do, and knowing that he was probably going to hate himself later for it, he pushed a bit of strength into 'Siren.' The quirk that was a constant presence in his throat.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke.

"Iona. Could you look up at me please?"

She complied after a moment, lifting her head up to stare at him. Her eyes were red, and her face was a mess of snot and tears. He knew that 'Siren' hadn't taken effect yet. Her attention had just been caught by the odd sound of his voice.

"You're going to be just fine." He continued. "You don't have to talk about that if you don't want to. And I'm going to make sure that no one hurts you. Do you understand?"

She nodded ever so slightly, sniffling as she rubbed at her face.

Good. Now he had her attention. On to the next step. Luckily, it shouldn't take too long to get there. She was young, scared and confused, and probably tired.

He held out a hand. "Would you like to see something pretty?"

Another nod.

Pulling on another quirk, he felt his hand grow a little warmer, and suddenly little sparks of light were fading into existence all over it.

He moved the appendage through the air, sparkles trailing after it. Wherever his hand went, they would hover for a moment, before drifting to the ground and disappearing.

It was one of his older quirks. Admittedly rather useless, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

Watching her eyes, he could see that Iona was all but enraptured.

"What do you think?" He asked. "It's pretty, isn't it?"

"Yeah." She responded, eyes focused on the display.

He held out his other hand. "How about we get you up off the ground? I'll bet it's uncomfortable sitting down there against the wall."

She did so almost immediately, standing on shaky legs and taking his hand as she continued to stare at the sparkles.

Almost there, he could feel it, it was already starting to take effect.

"I'm going to take you somewhere safe." He said. "There are people there that can make sure that no one will ever hurt you. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

There! As she nodded again, he could feel a threshold being crossed. He pressed a bit harder at 'Siren', ignoring the disgust he felt as he watched Iona's face go blank.

'Siren' didn't work quite like most other mind control quirks, not that there were very many to begin with. He couldn't outright tell someone to do something and expect them to obey, at least not in the beginning. It all relied on using gentle persuasion to build a connection.

He could make suggestions, and work to manipulate what they were already thinking, subtly directing their thoughts to match his own. Every little bit served to establish a connection between himself and his target. The worse off that their mental state was, and the lesser their intelligence, the easier it was to pull off.

And if he did it enough, then eventually such a connection would be formed, unlocking the full potential of the quirk. When this happened, the target would enter into a trancelike state where he could control their every action.

To date, this was the only time he'd actually used that part of it. He hadn't even experimented with it. Everything he knew about that aspect of it had come from observing the original user.

"Okay Iona." He began, ready to get this over with. "Please tell me how old you are."

"Four." She replied immediately, voice monotone.

He nodded, a recent quirk manifestation made sense for quirk trafficking. Chances were that the doctor she'd gone to had been working for whatever gang had been trying to kidnap her.

"Very good. Now please tell me what happened. How did you get out here?"

"Kemono helped me get out of the big van. He hit one of the mean men and carried me out of it. He carried me here."

Okay. Getting closer.

"How did they get you into the van?" He asked, before changing his mind. "When's the first time you remember seeing them?"

"At home. I was eating dinner with Mommy and Daddy. They broke the door and came inside. Daddy was yelling at them and Mommy was trying to carry me away. But the mean men hurt them, and they fell down and didn't get up. Then one of them touched me and I fell asleep."

Shit. Shit!

"Go to sleep." He commanded, catching her when she immediately slumped to the side.

From what she'd described, her family had been attacked in their home, and there was a very real possibility that she'd watched her parents die.

He knew from experience that 'Siren' left a person's mind very much aware, even if their body was no longer under their control. They were essentially trapped, forced to watch what was going on around them as they were controlled like a puppet. He didn't want her to be stuck reliving that memory. Besides, he got what he needed.

Resting her on the ground, and feeling a small amount of relief when he realized that Kemono had vanished when she fell asleep, he let his head fall, resting his elbows on his knees. Part of him hated that quirk. Part of him really hated it. It served as a constant reminder of when it had been used on him, and of the person that had been wielding it. He didn't much care for the idea of using it on someone else.

But just as that made him hate it, it was for that very same reason that he kept it active all the time. It was a reminder of one of the myriad reasons that he did what he did. Of why he wanted to be a hero. To ensure that he helped as many people as possible; to prevent them from going through what he did.

Shaking his head, he pinched at the bridge of his nose, letting the resulting sharp pain drive such thoughts from his head.

He heard movement from behind him. The figure that had jumped in to fight the criminals moved closer from where they'd been watching.

"Oni-" They started, only to be cut off.

"Give me a second, Shadow."

Taking a deep breath, he jerked his nose to the side, snapping it back into place. The flow of blood increased as he pulled on his healing quirk, and slowed as heat flowed through his face. Less than a minute later, the pain had disappeared, and the bleeding had halted altogether.

With that done, he stood, turning to face the new arrival.

He was met with a man a bit taller than him. Most of their body was hidden away by a pitch-black cloak, reaching down to just past their knees. Their face was obscured in darkness, the only thing visible – and simultaneously their most distinguishable feature – were his eyes, pure white and almost glowing in the dark.

This was Shadow. A vigilante.

He'd only ever met the man once before, and as such hadn't had much chance to learn anything about them, but he'd heard plenty of rumors surrounding them, and Rei had read up on all of the police reports that mentioned him.

Somewhere in his mid-thirties as far as anyone could tell, Shadow was a very serious, no-nonsense vigilante that did everything he could to keep his city safe. He was everything a person might want in a vigilante. He even settled things without causing unnecessary harm to the criminals. Not exactly Oni's cup of tea, but hey, to each their own. And at the end of the day, they both broke the law just by existing, so what did it matter?

Their quirk was what had really caught Oni's attention, though. It was, in essence, shadow manipulation. He could control the shadows around him; moving them for intimidation or stealth, causing them to become semi-tangible in order to immobilize opponents, or even being able to travel between them. It was an incredibly complex and useful quirk that suited Shadow's style of fighting perfectly.

He plastered a small smile on his face. "Hello Shadow. It's nice to finally see you again."

The other vigilante grunted in response. "Oni. I'd ask what you're doing here, but the body you left on the rooftop speaks for itself."

"You noticed our little chase, did you?"

"The two of you ran across half the city, causing disturbances everywhere. I'd have to be blind not to notice that." He said, narrowing those white voids of his. "I hope you weren't planning on pulling some mess of yours into my city."

Oni waved a dismissive hand at the other. "Of course not. I just happened to be chasing someone that my local underground hero let get away, and ended up getting a little too into it."

"Besides." He continued, smirk growing. "It seems like the mess is already here."

He gestured over to the criminals that had been left in the mouth of the alley, now restrained. He also saw where Shadow had retrieved the one he'd chased here.

If the other vigilante was annoyed at his tone, he did a good job of hiding it.

"They're a new group." Shadow responded, ignoring the provocation. "Or at least, I only got wind of them recently. They're a relatively large group of quirk traffickers. I was actively investigating one of their locations when your little chase pulled me away."

"Sounds exciting." Oni said. "Do you know what they're calling themselves? Maybe it's a group that I chased out of Musutafu."

"The Triad."

"Oh?" Oni asked, quirking an eyebrow. "You're telling me that The Triad, one of the most infamous Asian crime syndicates from before the appearance of quirks, has resurfaced?"

"I don't think it's the same group. But at the very least, they're trying their best to imitate them. They're spread out across a good bit of Japan. Probably further."

"Hmm." Oni hummed as he considered that. He knew that they hadn't made an appearance in his city yet, but if they were as big as Shadow thought, then it could very well be a matter of time before they got confident enough to do so.

"Well then!" He said, clapping his hands together. "What do you say we do something about that?"

Shadow faltered. "You want to take them on?"

"Why not? Something needs to be done about them, one way or another. And besides, I've always wanted to fight an entire crime syndicate. They sound like such fun. And I imagine that it would be quite exciting."

Not waiting for a response, he bent down to pick up his still-glowing mask. A quick touch, and the light began fading away. A moment later and it was secured back in place.

"How do you do that?" Shadow asked. "That, and the sparkles I saw earlier. Some sort of chemical?"

"Oh, it's quite simple, really." Oni responded. "It's a neat trick I like to call, 'mind your business and stop asking questions before I break your legs.'"

The vigilante took a small step back, holding his hands up. Good. It seemed that they knew enough about him to be wary.

Other vigilantes generally couldn't be trusted, as they likely wouldn't hesitate to fight him if they felt that he violated their 'code' or whatever nonsense they followed. As such, it was always a good idea to make sure that they feared him at least a bit.

Satisfied, Oni knelt down to scoop up the sleeping form of Iona. Positioning her so that she was cradled snugly against his chest, he stood back up to face Shadow.

"What do you intend to do about her?" The man asked. "If I understand what she said, she doesn't have a home to take her back to."

"There's a detective that I'm in contact with back in Musutafu. He's well suited to handle cases like this. And I trust him. I'll let him take care of her."

"Now." He continued, making his way towards the mouth of the alley. "What exactly do you know about The Triad so far? You said that you were investigating them?"

"Not much, unfortunately." Came the response. "I only learned about them recently, and they've been difficult. I know that they're a large group, large enough to have a presence in most cities in Japan. And they're organized; they don't mess around when it comes to acquiring product. There's a reason that they've gone so long without me noticing them."

Oni had stopped next to the group of restrained criminals as the man continued his explanation, eyeing the one with the tail quirk. It was a decently long, black, leathery tail. Something that would pair nicely with his vigilante persona.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about gathering information on them." He said, kneeling down next to the criminal, careful to keep Iona secure in his arms. "I've got a friend that can hack into just about anything. They can look through police records and missing person's reports to get an idea of just how widespread they are."

"As for the more specific information." He continued, grabbing at the criminal's chin, lifting their head up. "I think you'll find that I'm very… effective… when it comes to information gathering."

As he said that, his hand latched over their mouth as he yanked their quirk from its place. Their eyes shot open, thrust back into consciousness, and they thrashed against their restraints and his hand as he pulled the quirk from them. Once he had it, they sagged back down, looking about half-dead.

"You're talking about torture?" The other vigilante asked, sounding almost incredulous. Not surprising considering how serious the man seemed to be about following the laws. In every police report Rei had found, there was hardly any record of any injury more serious than the occasional broken bone, and those were always found with emergency first aid having already been performed.

Time to find out just how far his sense of morality went.

"Well, yes. I thought that was pretty obvious." Oni replied. Then, seeing the look on their mostly shadowed face, "Relax. I'm joking. Only as a last resort. I hardly ever do that to gather information anyway. Most of the pain I cause is purely for my own enjoyment. I usually get information from a group's records after I've already emptied a location out."

"So. What do you say?" He asked with a grin. "You have the inherent knowledge of your city, I have the firepower. If we work together, we should be able to handle this just fine."

Truthfully, it didn't really matter to Oni what the other vigilante decided to do. He'd already made up his mind that he was going to root them out and end them. Shadow could do whatever he liked, so long as he didn't get in the way.

Shadow was silent for several long seconds, before he finally seemed to come to a decision.

"Alright." He relented. "I'll work with you. I'm not sure how much I trust you, but I want these people out of my city, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that on my own."

"Excellent." Oni said, standing back up and continuing his path to the mouth of the alley.

"So, what do you think out first step should be?" Shadow asked as he followed.

"For now, we aren't going to do much of anything." He replied. "I'm going take Iona here to my detective, and you'll take care of handing them over to the police." He said, gesturing at the criminals.

"Tomorrow, though." He continued. "We'll start by taking care of that location you said you were investigating. We'll squeeze everything we can out of them, and then move on from there."

The vigilante seemed to consider his words for a moment, before nodding.

"Alright. I'll work on getting things ready on my end in the meantime." Shadow said, stopping before they got to the street.

"You do that." Oni dismissed, continuing on. He stopped in the middle of the road, shuffling his wings.

"Oh. And just so you're aware, Shadow." He called over his shoulder. "I don't do quiet, stealthy investigations. When I go after a group or location, I go in loud and proud and throw everything into chaos. So I do hope you'll be prepared to fight, because, if anything, I'm going to go harder with this than I usually would. The quicker these people are taken out of commission, the better."

Not waiting for the man to respond, he crouched down, stretching his wings out and tightening his grip on Iona. He launched the two of them into the air, climbing up higher than the buildings around them.

"Do you have her address?" He asked. "I need to confirm the status of her parents before I do anything else. Her recounting was unclear, and they had a person in their group with a sedation quirk."

"I do." Rei responded. "Head north. I'll send it to you."

They fell silent as he changed course, until Rei spoke up a few minutes later.

"You know that you helped her, right?" She asked, breaking the silence. "It isn't a bad thing that you used that quirk. You got her to calm down and were able to get the answers that you needed."

"I forced her to give answers that she obviously didn't want to give." Came his response. "And then I made her relive the memory of her family getting hurt."

"You don't know that. You heard how vague her answer was. There's a chance that she doesn't understand what happened to them yet. And besides, even if she did, you put her to sleep right after. She���ll probably think it was a dream when she wakes up."

"Maybe you're right." He relented after a moment. "But I still loathe the idea of taking anyone's freedom away like that, for any reason."

"I know. But you did what you had to do." She reassured softly. "And you didn't hurt her. You did it to help."

He didn't respond to that, and they fell into silence again.

Soon enough, he was touching down at the address that Rei had sent him. He found himself looking up at a small, unassuming single-story house, with a tidy lawn in front of it. True to Iona's words, the front door looked like it had been kicked open.

Looking down, he confirmed that she was still asleep. He already knew she was, she wouldn't wake up until he told her to, or naturally at some point once he dropped his hold on 'Siren,' but it didn't hurt to double check. If this turned out like he was suspecting it would, then she didn't need to be awake to see it.

Moving up to the entrance, he pushed the splintered door open and stepped inside. Everything was still illuminated. If it weren't for the state of the door, the faint smell of something burning, and the fact that he knew that something had happened, he would've thought that he stumbled into a perfectly normal home, and that he'd run into its inhabitants any second.

Working his way further in, he payed close attention to 'Proximity' keeping watch for anything moving around him. He came to an empty living room, the tv still on and playing some show he didn't recognize. Moving on, he found the door that led to the kitchen, and found himself staring at a sight that made him very glad that Iona was asleep.

The kitchen was in complete disarray. The table and two of the chairs were overturned, spilling food across the floor. A third chair was in pieces where it looked like it had been used as a makeshift weapon. A pot of something on the stove was smoking, the flame beneath it still going. It was a wonder that the house wasn't up in flames, or that there wasn't even a smoke alarm going off.

Then there were the bodies.

He'd been hoping, for her sake, that Iona's parents had only been hit by that sedation quirk. But now that he was here, it was clear as day that-that wasn't the case.

A man – her father, he would assume – was lying in a puddle of blood, the source of which being several stab wounds to his stomach. The mother didn't fare much better. Her lifeless eyes stared off into the distance, her head turned almost directly backwards; a broken neck.

Shifting Iona around in his arms, he managed to dig his gloves out of his pockets and pulled them on. Best not to leave any fingerprints at a murder scene. Moving over to the nearest body – that of the father – he knelt down next to it. He didn't have high hopes, as the man was pale and the blood on the floor had already begun to congeal, but he needed to be sure.

Checking for a pulse at the man's neck, and even hovering a hand over his mouth and nose to feel for breathing, and then repeating the same process with the mother, confirmed what he already knew. They were dead, and Iona Katayama was now an orphan.

Letting out a sigh, he stepped over to the stove, shutting off the rogue burner, before turning and heading for the exit without a second glance.

"They're dead." He announced, softly. "Call it in please, if you don't mind. They need to be taken care of."

"Right." Rei responded, just as soft. "You're taking her to Tsukauchi now, right?"

"Yeah." He said, stepping back out through the front door and pulling it shut behind him as best he could. "I probably don't have to, but this group, the Triad, already has its eyes on her. I'd feel better leaving her with someone I trust, rather than some random precinct. Especially since I know that they have no presence in Musutafu as of yet."

Checking once more that Iona was secure in his arms, he leapt back into the air, gliding off in the direction of his city.

Less than an hour later – he'd been flying a bit slower and lower to the ground to avoid subjecting her to freezing winds – he was landing in front of the police precinct that he'd made a point of never visiting before now.

Stepping through the door, he plastered a smile on his face, directing it at the lady sitting at the front desk. She was staring wide-eyed at him, shocked at the sight of a well-known vigilante walking straight into a police headquarters.

"If you could please call Detective Tsukauchi." He said, breaking her out of her shock. "Tell him his most favorite person in the world is here to see him."

Not taking her eyes off of him, she grabbed for a phone that sat in front of her, speaking quietly into it once it was next to her face.

Not even a minute later, one of the side doors burst open to reveal the detective he'd come to love causing issues for. He arrived flanked by what must've been half of the officers in the building, though they all had the common sense to stay back. He had no way of knowing whether that was a result of Tsukauchi's orders or his reputation proceeding him into the building.

Tsukauchi seemed to be the only one brave enough to actually step up to him.

"Oni?" He started, eyes wide. "Is that you?"

He was sure he must be quite the sight. Red and black dress clothes, a mask, blood covering most of the half of his face that wasn't hidden by it, and a sleeping child in his arms. It was made even better by the fact that this was the detective's first time seeing him in person.

"Hello Detective." He responded. "It is so very nice to finally meet you in person, after however many years of irritating you over the phone. I only wish it could've been under more pleasant circumstances."

Tsukauchi sighed, the shock wearing off already. "What've you gone and gotten yourself into now?"

"I've been playing with Eraserhead, mostly. But when a more troublesome criminal led me on a chase into the next city over, I stumbled upon this little one being chased by a capture team for a group of quirk traffickers."

Several pairs of eyes flickered between him and Iona as he delivered his explanation.

"Well if you look like that, I'd hate to see what you did to them." Tsukauchi said in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

"Oh, this?" He asked, gesturing at his bloodstained face. "That wasn't them. With how stupid they were, I'm surprised that they were able to walk and breathe at the same time."

"No. That was actually her." He continued, gesturing at the girl in his arms. "She's quite the fighter, or at least, her quirk is. It's not at all surprising that she was targeted."

"Who is she?"

"Iona Katayama." He answered. "Four years old."

"And the reason you brought her here? Instead of to the precinct in whatever city you ended up in?"

"Because her parents were killed when they first went after her." He replied, to Tsukauchi's obvious surprise. "And because the group is evidently big enough to have a presence across most of Japan. So I wanted someone I trust to take care of processing her. That, and this group hasn't made a move here yet. I'll be working in the next few days to make sure that it stays that way."

He watched as the detective's eyes hardened. There it was; that quality Oni enjoyed so much about him. Tsukauchi's surprise at the situation was shoved off to the side as his duty was pushed to the forefront. He stepped closer, holding his hands out to Iona.

Adjusting his hold on her, Oni handed her over to him. He dropped his hold on 'Siren' as he did, watching to see whether or not she would wake up immediately.

He was glad when she didn't, she would get to sleep a bit longer before learning what had become of her life.

"I'll take care of her." Tsukauchi said, holding her tight. "She'll be safe."

"See to it that she is, Detective." Oni responded as he turned back towards the doors. "She's dealt with enough shit already. She doesn't need to go through any more."

"Oni!" Tsukauchi called out at him. Looking over his shoulder, he could see that the other officers had started shuffling a bit closer, most of them with a hand on their gun. "As much as I appreciate you stopping her from being taken, as police officers, we can't exactly let a known vigilante just walk out of the precinct."

He cocked an eyebrow. "And as a senior officer in said precinct, it would be an example of poor leadership if you led all of these fine men into a situation that would get them hurt."

Dialing up his bloodlust, just enough to make sure they felt it, he continued. "I don't like the idea of hurting police officers. They go through enough trouble already in this villain-saturated world. But even more than that, I dislike the idea of being captured and forced to stop what I do. So, try to stop me, and I will do what I need to in order to defend myself."

Turning to face the door again, he waited a moment to see what their decision would be. He smiled when he heard nothing, and 'Proximity' picked up not one bit of movement.

"Smart choice."

As he pushed the door open, he paused once more to call out over his shoulder.

"By the way. I'd be careful with her when she wakes up. Her quirk is sentient, and won't hesitate to defend her."

A small laugh escaped his throat as he practically felt the detective's irritation behind him, closing the door behind him.

Soon enough, he was soaring through the air once more, back in the direction of the apartment. Off in the distance, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon.

This mess had taken longer to deal with than he would've liked. The plan had originally been to deal with that final location and then head home, but then that criminal had led him on an – admittedly enjoyable – chase across the city. And to be fair, had he not chased them he wouldn't have stumbled upon Iona, and by now she might've been taken to any number of facilities.

And dealing with this 'Triad' group was sure to be all sorts of fun. New criminals, new faces, new quirks, and all in a new, unfamiliar city.

He almost couldn't wait.